Vote Today

Choose Which Party's Primary You Prefer

February 12, 2008

Today's a good day to be glad that Virginia voters aren't forced to register by swearing loyalty to a particular political party. That means you can take part in either presidential primary today - but only one.

It's good to be free.

The Democrats have a real contest between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. For a change, people in the rest of the country are watching Virginia in primary season. Usually, the outcome has already been settled, but not this year. In addition to the convention delegates at stake, how Obama and Clinton play in this red-moving-to-purple state will be judged a bellwether for which one's electable in November.

Some Republicans might think they'll sit this one out, since Sen. John McCain is 90 percent of the way to his party's nomination. But the fat lady can't sing until he wins enough primaries to wrap up enough delegates to the nominating convention. So if your leanings are in the Republican direction, you might still want to vote today.

Or, again, there's nothing stopping a Republican-leaning voter from making a choice in the Democrats' primary. If you have strong feelings about whether you'd rather see President Hillary Clinton or President Barack Obama, today's a chance to have some influence on which one gets the chance in November.